Price of War
by GoldStarWriter
Summary: This is my first story ever! Please review!


_A few days ago at the Tepic Headquarters…_

Captain Ranz stood before the twelve mighty leaders of the Tepic Alliance of Small Islands. Each of them was a legend in their own right, each man who was regarded as a demigod had participated in the Battle of the Last Island when their powerful neighbor, the Savonic Empire had attacked the Tepic Chain of Islands wishing to expand their own territory. Alone, the Tepic Islands stood no chance; however, at one point they united together proving to be a formidable force. At the last battle, the Tepic armies managed to destroy the Savonic army driving them back to their mainland.

The Savonic King, Belzem the Third had been restrictive in letting his trade ships enter the Tepic Islands, he always had them go around escorted by huge warships that was a show of force to the Tepic armies warning them not to attack. Nor had they, it had been twenty years since the Tepic-Savonic war, the Tepic people had never forgiven the Savonic King for what he had done but they never turned hostile. But now, the citizens of the Twelve Islands demanded retribution for what happened many years ago, the Tepic armies had been restored to their full strength accompanied by the strong navy they commanded.

Ranz shifted uncomfortably under his steel armor which rattled nosily with its rusty areas, he felt the wise yet wrathful gaze of the Twelve Leaders upon him. He had been kneeling for the past minute or so but he never showed any sign of impatience or discomfort in front of the men he knew were Gods. The Tepic Leaders sat each on a soft, big cushion sowed from the lightest of silks; in front of them was a huge oaken table of which an unrolled map showing the Twelve Islands and the Savonic Mainland was displayed. Every second, Ranz's sharp, brown eyes stole a glance at the map learning more and more information as time passed. He saw already various arrows pointing in and out of the Mainland as well as markings which were ports, cities, and trade routes.

Finally, after a long silence, one of the Twelve Leaders Yui Zhang spoke in his deep voice, "Captain Ranz, rise and pay attention, it is good of you to come so quickly, we have an urgent task for you at hand."

"Yes, recently as you have guessed the people of the Twelve Islands demand that we pool our resources and military into attacking the Savonic Mainland, what they do not know is that the Savonic King possesses a huge army at his disposal dwarfing ours in sheer strength. However, we have one advantage; our Navy is more powerful in every way. We have decided to carry out with these actions and as such composed essential battle plans." Yui Zhang continued.

"Sir with the greatest respect, we cannot go to war with the Savonic people, if we do so we risk destroying ourselves as well as losing all our military strength making us vulnerable to an open strike. We-" Ranz stuttered as Yui Zhang raised his hand to silence him.

"We understand your reluctance to go to war and we sympathize as well, however, the people are angry and we must abide with their wishes or else the entire Chain of Islands will descend into uncontrollable bloodlust. As I was saying, these battle plans are arriving from another city on this island, Reol. We shall assign you ten of our best warriors both trained in archery and swordsmanship along with horses to meet the caravan at Roel, from there you shall provide support and protection to the caravan until it reaches here. Understood?" Yui Zhang asked.

Ranz replied with a stiff nod, Yui Zhang raised his hand as a sign of dismissal for him to go. Spinning on his heel, Ranz thought, _what could go wrong?_

Avoiding a slash to the face, Ranz raised his longsword in an attempt to deflect the dagger. It had all been too easy, once he and the elite troops had met up at the city of Roel, they rode with the caravan for several days straight only reaching their halfway point to rest and set up camp for the night. It had been a nice night, there were plenty of stars in the sky, the moon was a complete white orb rising into the sky quickly, and the campfire belching its warm, cozy red and blue fires provided warmth and illumination for the soldiers as well as the caravan driver.

They had set up camp on a high, rocky hill with plenty of forest around them; the trees were tall with plenty of dense leaves that blocked all sunlight when it came through. The blanket of nature completely blinded their surroundings giving them only darkness to look at. Three of the elite soldiers stood guard on the north, east, and south edges of the camp, longbows at the ready. Their faces were motionless, only their eyes betrayed the notion that they were scanning every detail around them looking for intruders that were either going to attack or hide among the forest. Ranz had guard duty on the west side of the camp; he wasn't very good with archery so he brought his trusty longsword with him in case.

The horses they had ridden were magnificent steeds bred to be the fastest things in the land as well as being able to detect any humans coming their way by a small sound. They were tied to a pole which prevented them from straying off too far and were fed with ample hay and water. The caravan driver was chatting up with some other elite soldiers who were trying to go to sleep despite the oblivious message they were trying to send to him.

Seconds later, a whistling arrow soared through the air from an unknown position and assailant and struck the caravan driver right through the chest. Blood spurted outwards as the shaft found its target, seconds later; the driver fell to the ground with a large bang on the dirt floor. The soldiers immediately stood up and took their bows scanning the area around them, three more thuds soon followed from the north, east, and south edges of the camp. Apparently, the guards had been ambushed as well…

Suddenly, one of the horses whined with a small sound and became extremely distressed; it pounded the ground four times indicating four unknown attackers were coming. Elsewhere, at the west edge of the camp, Ranz was fighting for his life. A few seconds earlier, a deadly arrow was launched at him but he managed to avoid the arrow by diving behind a tree. A figure dressed in jet black clothes as well as a mask covering his face attacked Ranz with a sharp dagger. The captain threw his bow to the ground and drew his longsword, barely avoiding a slash to the face. He began to parry the assassin's blows with increasing difficulty, he or she was clearly well versed in swordsmanship but Ranz was also a veteran of many battles.

The assassin jumped high in the air, did a front flip, and landed hand out with his dagger ready to split apart Ranz's head. Unfortunately, he noticed his and performed a front roll missing the blow by mere inches. Quickly turning around, Ranz swung his blade arm outwards in an attempt to wound the assassin. He succeeded, a howl of pain echoed among the forest, as Ranz's longsword sliced through the chest black clothing of the assassin ensuring a deep wound. Bleeding quickly and stunned by the ferocity of the attack, the assassin received an armored punch to the head effectively knocking him out.

For safe keeping, Ranz took the dagger, and put it in a sheath he found on the assassin's body and took it. By the time, Ranz had returned to the camp, he saw twelve dead bodies lying on the dirt floor each with their own wound which claimed their host's lives.

He spotted two armored men of which he recognized as the elite troops, approaching them he asked, "What the hell happened?"

Surprised by the sudden voice, one drew his blade but stopped as he saw the Captain, "They are Night Assassins, people who specialize in using the night as cover for killing prey, these men were on a contract to kill us and steal the plans"

Ranz agreed with a nod and suggested they burn the bodies of the dead men and explained what he had found. Immediately, they both said that they should question him for answers. Returning to the spot where he had knocked the assassin out, Ranz showed them his "friend". They dragged him back to the camp, burned all the bodies, freed only some of the horses to the wild, packed up, and rode away into the night.

The next morning, they had reached the open plains where the sun had been fully shining in the sky, and they unpacked eager to rest. They woke the unconscious assassin who immediately snarled in rage as he realized that he and his brothers had failed in their task.

"Who are you and why did your employers want to kill us?" Ranz asked looking into the assassin's eyes.

He was met by stony silence and the assassin received a blow to the face breaking his cheekbone. Reacting in both fury and pain, he began to curse at the three survivors in an unknown dialect for living. Another blow, another curse; and no answer.

"I'll handle this…," one of the elite soldiers said as he drew the assassin's dagger.

Immediately, the soldier twirled the weapon in his hand as he stabbed the shoulder of the assassin creating a deep wound bleeding out. The assassin responded by cursing louder unable to retaliate as his legs and arms were tied behind his back. The soldier calmly asked the assassin in the unknown dialect a question and the response was a single grunt. Another flicker of the blade; another wound in another place. An hour went by before the assassin could stand no more; he told them everything he knew.

"It appears news of the battle plans reached the Savonic King and he hired these Night Assassins to stop those plans from being delivered. However, he wasn't expecting any guards especially not experienced ones such as us. They reacted badly and it was their price for their mistake" the soldier explained.

Ranz told the other soldiers that the Telic Headquarters was a quarter's day ride from here and they agreed. The assassin struggled in vain as his captors drew a single arrow with a bow, a single second later; the arrow tore through the skull of the assassin as he showed no signs of life, and toppled over lifeless.

In the setting horizon, the sun was setting shining a pink radiance across the sky itself transforming it into sheer beauty. Only what a bystander could see was three horsemen rode to the sunset to the city of Tepic ready to deliver what had nearly cost them their life's as well as for retribution for their fellow soldier's deaths.

After presenting the plans to the Twelve Leaders, the soldiers explained what they had experienced and did. The Leaders immediately questioned them and they responded quietly. They were dismissed, however, not before earning the admiration of the Leaders and receiving a large sum of gold as well as resting for several weeks.

They met directly after in the local tavern for drinks, they ordered the strongest ales that the bar had, and announced a toast.

"TO THE BRAVE MEN WHO DIED FIGHTING THE ASSASSINS AND TO FUTURE GLORY FOR WE SHALL CONQUER AND DESTROY THE SAVONIC EMPIRE!" Ranz yelled.

The local tavern suddenly burst into cheer as all the men and women yelled in agreement, that spirit spread to other tavern in Tepic, and soon the chorus of voices could be heard to the Tepic Headquarters.


End file.
